We're reading Arun's memories of his grandfather aloud a chapter each week. Highy recommended!

Kimball identifies five indicators of religion gone bad and provides historical and contemporary examples: religions may make "absolute truth claims," require "blind obedience," "establish an 'ideal time'" (attempt to set up a utopian theocracy), teach that "the end justifies the means" or "declare holy war."

Recopmmended by Nikki and Deb. This rich blend of prayers, poems, and sayings by women writers and sages from around the world and throughout history offers daily inspiration and delight. Included in this collection are diverse voices ranging from the early Sufi mystic Rabia and the trailblazing Mechtild of Magdeburg, to contemporary poets Denise Levertov, Kathleen Norris, Maya Angelou, Jane Hirshfield, and Mary Oliver. Also recommended: Sacred Voices: Essential Women's Wisdom Through the Ages and Prayers for All People by the same author.

A range of topics covering 1989-1999 from the stifling of true dissent, to heavy-handed American imperialism (from Southeast Asia to Mexico.) More accessible than his more scholarly writings.

Five people on the peaceCENTER's core team were contracted by Augsburg Press to write a five-session dialogue of discovery to explore what Jesus did to break the cycle of violence and what we can do to be living prayers for peace.

Understanding our cultural and natural environment and how these factors have shaped our history is critical to charting a course for our future. On the Border illuminates the boundaries and currents that formed our community and continue to impact life in San Antonio.

This little book has been cited as being the most accessible introduction to Dorothy Day.

A collection of angry essays that explain some of the thought and beliefs behind the mass demonstrations and violence that occurred in Genoa and at earlier world economic forums. See also The Wto: Five Years of Reasons to Resist Corporate Globalization (Open Media Pamphlet Series) and The Battle in Seattle: The Story Behind and Beyond the WTO Demonstrations.

We liked this book so much we bought up every copy in San Antonio, so if you want it, get it here. This is a book about how things change, for better or worse. It's not in gradual steps; often, it's all at once, when the "tipping point" is reached. We will read this book again (Ann's already read it three times), discusses it promote it and most of all, use it to make change happen. Also available as an audio tape.

Ed is pastor of a Presbyterian church in upstate New York who we met online through the media-faith mailing list. In this wonderful book he centers prayer around 31 movies and the theme of God's grace, including some unexpected entries such as Star Wars and Babe: A Pig in the City. Each entry contains biblical passages, plot synopsis, a recommended extract for viewing, discussion questions, a hymn and a closing prayer. Written from a Christian perspective, this book would be a treasure for church educators, especially those working with youth.

Lovely black and white photos of hands used in prayer by various religious traditions. Spiritual traditions represented include Anglican, Sufi, Zen, Roman Catholic, Yoga, Shaker, Hindu, Jewish, Pentecostal, Eastern Orthodox, and many others.

Companion volume to the PBS series airing September 18 and 25th. Powerful stories from all over the world. We bought this for the peaceCENTER library the second it was published!

The 53 articles, culled from 85 years of Fellowship magazine, are by Berrigan, Chavez, Day, Deming, Dolci, Ellsberg, Gandhi, Harding, Jegen, King, Macy, Merton, Muste, Nhat Han, Nouwen, Sharpe, Smiley... and the list goes on. Glen says, "Among the shelves of volumes I've read, Peace is the Way is what I would use were I to teach a class or lead a study group this fall."

In our busy life, a guidebook on how to create a special time of rest, delight, and renewal--a refuge for our souls.

How do we, as a people, mark places of violence and tragedy? University of Texas geographer Kenneth Foote asks why, for example, the site of the Salem witch hangings has no plaque, no memorial, no sign, while the Alamo is celebrated as "the shrine of Texas Liberty." A facinating and scholarly yet accessible book.

Jacques Barzun spoke at Trinity University on Spetember 11. Noted cultural critic and historian Jacques Barzun analyzes the great revolutions that have swept the Western world. Reading this book is better than getting a degree in liberal arts!

The author combines information from her own Native American heritage with material she has personally collected from native traditions around the world to bring you practical, easy-to-use exercises for balancing the physical, emotional and spiritual energies in your home.

Local poet and friend of the peaceCENTER, Jenny Browne has had a book of her poetry published by the Pecan Grove Press at St. Mary's University. Amazon has a several week delay in getting this book; you can contact the Press directly at psomach@alvin.stmarytx.edu for local ordering information.

Karen Armstrong explores the issue of religious fundamentalism as a defensive response to modernism. Her approach to fundamentalism is both critical and empathetic. Her empathy flows from an insightful analysis of what makes fundamentalism tick. Armstrong's book does not try to account for all factors in Middle East conflict, but does address the religious factor insightfully. If you don't have time to read the whole book but would like an insight as to how Israel and its Palestinian neighbors came to this pass, go to Chapter 9, pages 278-288 and treat yourself to information you won't get in the commercial media.

Barry Scheck was in San Antonio on June 2 to speak for the Texas Innocence Project, a pro bono civil rights organization that helps innocent people who have been unjustly imprisoned win their freedom through DNA testing. This book tells the story of 10 men the authors have helped.

Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes traces the life and career of criminologist Lonnie Athens, asking readers to consider how violent our society really is, how it became that way, and what might be done to change it. A whole new way of looking at the way violence develops.

Written by a high school teacher, Free the Children covers raising a peaceful male child in a violent world; how to encourage children's natural empathy; the effect of media violence on the chemistry of children's brains; building community; school bullies; dating violence; and empowering adolescent girls to refuse the role of the "victim" and embrace personal strength.

The Rev. Mary Earle is on the Board of Spiritual Directors of the peaceCENTER. Each of the 15 meditations centers around a saint, and consists of reflection, meditation, prayer, and lessons from the saint's life. We walked the labyrinth with Mary on St. David's day and she recalled his words, to care for one another in the little things. A lovely book.

Richard Rohr signed this book at VIVA Bookstore on March 4, 2000. Using parables and personal experiences, Rohr leads readers beyond the techniques of prayer to a place where they can receive the gift of contemplation--and know that everything belongs.

In San Antonio: This is a condensed, easy-to-read version of the "powers trilogy."

Robert Bellah spoke at St. Mary's University on March 22, 2000. A powerful sociological study of American character is a democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditions.

Flinders confronts many women's skeptcism about spirituality, a mistrust arising from a suspicision that the silence and suppression required by the spiritual life are burdens borne by women for centuries. An amazing book.

Activist Paul Loeb teaches us how to to lead lives worthy of our convictions. He maintains a web site with sample chapters at www.soulofacitizen.org.

A thoughtful selection of the writings of Martin Luther King, with an introduction by Corretta Scott King.

The companion book to the Sing For Freedom CD Contains 115 songs (including all the ones on the recording), 135 photos and first-hand accounts. A reissue of two prior books, We Shall Overcome and Freedom is a Constant Struggle. The Carawans were the folksingers in residence at the Highlander Center, which trained many of the early civil rights workers, and re-discovered the song "We Shall Overcome."

When her Berkeley neighborhood was taken over by crack dealers, Medoly Chavis, a mother, Buddhist and private investigator specializing in death row defenses, organized her neighborhood and took back Alma Street. A beautifully written and inspiring memoir about community and faith.

peaeCENTER spiritual director Mary Earle recommended this as spiritual sustenance, an antidote to millennial rumblings of doom.

Bill Shore, founder of Share Our Strength, uses the metaphor of the cathedral to propose that nonprofits enter into sustained, profitable partnerships with corporations, ending the frustrating annual hand-to-mouth quest of nonprofit fundraising through long-term licensing agreements, marketing arrangements, and profit-sharing.

If I had one songbook, this would be it. The words and guitar chords to hundreds and hundreds of the songs you sang at summer camp, sittin' on the floor in the college dorm and in the back seat of the car on the way to grandma's. A treasure!

Don't let the title fool you - this is the best how-to guide for social change I have ever seen, for all ages. It's divided into five parts: Life beyond the Classroom, or evaluating issues; Power Skills, from petitioning to press releases and grantwriting; Working with Goivernment, including tips on changing the U.S. Constitution; Resources; and Tools, which includes forms, formats and checklists. Suitable for the classroom or the picket line, this is a must-have book for every activist's library.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This book is considered the "bible" of domestic violence texts. Twenty-four chapters cover a gamut of issues. The problems of and solutions to domestic violence are clearly defined through the voices of women as they share their experiences and carve out their steps toward freedom.

Focuses on the exposure of infants to violence, illegal drugs, trauma and head injury and emotional deprivation.

Sociologist Barry Glassner of the University of Southern California argues that the fear of crime and young criminals has been exaggerated by groups that hope to profit from it.

Rosayln took a workshop from Jay at a recent conference in South Carolina and was captivated. This book uses the musical aria as a metaphor to move through four phases of conflict - Antagonism, Resonance, Invention and Action.

Fr. Roy Bourgois, founder of School of the Americas Watch, will be speaking at the University of the Incarnate Word on Oct. 26. See the peaceCENTER calendar for details. This book was mentioned in an Express-News article about the School of the Americas. (Insight, Dec. 6, 1998.) The article stated, "On Nov. 22, opponents of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas - located inside Fort Benning (Georgia) - staged their largest demonstration on record to commemorate the 1989 murders of six jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador. Of the 26 soldiers convicted of the gruesome murders, 19 trained at the School of the Americas, a U.S. tax-funded military institution run by the Army. That training, along with hundreds of other documented cases connecting SOA graduates to human rights abuses, massacres and disappearances across Latin America, has given rise to one of the largest civil disobedience movements in America."

Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be speaking at Trinity University on September 20, 1999 on "Justice or forgiveness? The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa." Free and open to the public, 7:30 p.m. at Laurie Auditorium. Prepare yourself by reading one hundred selections from the Archbishop's speeches, sermons, and writings chosen by his daughter, Naomi. Also available in the peaceCENTER's bookstore are his The African Prayer Book and The Rainbow People of God. Pre-orders are being taken for No Future Without Forgiveness, due out on 5 October. You may also want to read Donald Shriver's An Ethic for Enemies, about the importance of forgiveness in the political arena, and Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu, by Michael Jesse Battle.

At our monthly Open Hearth celebration on October 21, the peaceCENTER will welcome the angelitos, the souls of the children who have died by violence this year by building an a Dia de los Muertos altar. To prepare, start by reading these six essays, originally prepared as part of a BBC documentary. Move on to the beautifully photographed The Days of the Dead: Mexico's Festival of Communion With the Departed, by John Greenleigh and Rosalind Rosoff Beimler and The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico. More books are available in our kid's book section.

Jose Angel Guitterez will be the guest speaker at the University of the Incarnate Word on September 22, 1999. See our calendar for details. The author was an organizer (later an elected official) in Cristal (Crystal City), Texas; he was among the founding members of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) and of El Partido de La Raza Unida, the political party the movement spawned.

Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, will be at Madison Square Presbyterian Church on Sept. 28, devotional and reception at 8:30 a.m. Another book about Habitat for Humanity, No More Shacks, now out of print, is available for checkout in the peaceCENTER library.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. A comprehensive manual for counselors, legal professionals, and victims of abuse, addressing behavioral patterns, the role of alcohol and drugs, how to leave abusive relationships and legislation on domestic violence.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Through exercises, thought-provoking questions, and intense self-examination, Men's Work helps men learn new rules and new roles in personal relationships and in the world at large.

Traces the role that shame plays in causing murder and explains why our present penal system only exacerbates it. Gilligan is a psychiatrist at a hospital for the criminally insane.

Raising bicultural children by the executive director of Avance. A combination of Filled with the latest research as well as personal anecdotes, songs, recipes, dichos, and games and practical child-rearing advice for parents of children birth-12. Published in May, 1999.

Many clerics and ordinary Catholics were killed or tortured for their anti-Nazi beliefs and activities but Pope Pius XII could never bring himself to publish a clear message of condemnation of the crimes against Europe's Jews and other minorities, although ample and reliable information about Hitler's genocidal policies was reaching him from all over Europe from early 1942 on. Scholarly and provoking. Published in October, 1999.

A well-chosen group of classical and modern essays that address rights from the provocative perspective of political theory, comparative government, international relations, and ethics.

The rise of human rights issues coming out of World War II and shows their transformation in the intervening years. Includes figures, tables, documents, suggested readings and photos.

The authors maintain that movies, TV, and video games are not only conditioning children to be violent but also are training them how to kill. This book is a call to action for parents, teachers, and citizens to help our children and a blueprint on how that can be achieved.

Often-quoted psychological study of killing in wartime and what it means for society at large reveals that violent movies, TV, and interactive video games are dangerously similar to military training programs that dehumanize the enemy and make killing automatic. Published in Nov. 1996.

An encyclopedia on the laws of war and on the willful violation of these laws using recent acts of barbarism as examples. Short pieces define particular terms and concepts such as aggression, genocide and just and unjust wars. Longer essays explore particular violations of these laws, including biological experimentation, children as soldiers and the use of chemical weapons. Ten detailed case studies, among them Chechnya, Cambodia, the Iran-Iraq war are presented. Includes photographs. As heard on the Diane Rehm show, July 19, 1999.

A clear, balanced, and readily accessible survey of new work in neuroscience and behavior genetics. You can listen to the Infinite Mind Program on Youth Violence, including an interview with the author of this book on their website.

Tom Keene wrote, "As an activist for social justice, I come up against an insideous evil developing in our nation. Not only does the U.S. have a higher percentage of its population in prisons than other nations, not only are we developing a "prison industrial complex" with the building of more and more prisons that need to be filled, but we are developing prison systems where guards and prisoners daily dehumanize the inmates. Rape, beatings, intimidation, sexual and economic slavery are routine." In this book, inmates in American penitentiaries report on their living conditions and political concerns.

Sociologist-criminologist Currie challenges the "myths, misconceptions, and half-truths" that dominate discussions of crime and punishment in the U.S. and explores alternative approaches: social supports and opportunities aimed at the most vulnerable Americans; and "refocusing our criminal-justice system . . . toward preventing harm and reintegrating offenders into the community." See also his Reckoning: Drugs, the Cities, and the American Future and America's Problems: Social Issues and Public Policy (with Jerome H. Skolnick).

Tom Flores, a new peacePARTNER, has made a sudy of Rene Girard. This is a good introductory text for the rest of us, including major excerpts from Girard's books and articles covering all aspects of his theories on violence, religion, and culture.

A sensitive description and proscription for youth violence. Dr. Garbarino wrote, "If we were sitting down for a chat this is what I would say to you about the book: For the past 25 years I have been searching for answers to three questions: "why do human beings hurt each other?" "what effect does this hurt have on the development of children and adolescents?" and "how can we transform our lives to heal the hurt?""

A way to fulfil the yearning for a sense of integration between an active life and a spiritual life. This book describes the prayer-action cycle that the peaceCENTER follows and offer rituals groups can use to begin to be religious together.

When the peaceCENTER decided to try "shouting the Psalms" this was the version we used. Powerful and direct.

The story of Ernesto Cortes and the formation of COPS in San Antonio. Should be required reading for anyone wanting to work faithfully to change San Antonio. A powerful, inspiring and helpful book.

Sister Prejean introduces us to the prisoners, the grieving families of their victims, to the people who administer the death sentence, to the legal system; and to the political choices that determine whether a prisoner will live or die. Dead Man Walking is a thought-provoking book that makes us reexamine our beliefs.

How Vaclav Havel helped transform Czechoslovakia into a democracy. The peaceCENTER has been much taken with Havel's meditation on hope, which was read at our building dedication on March 21st. This books is, remarkably, more of the same!

Richard, the founder of Pace e Bene, maintains that The violence in American society can be traced to the rise of the American ideal of the self-made man, which has replaced the older human values of communal responsibility with market-centered values that both excuse many kinds of violence and generate others. A controversial but thought-provoking book.

The two questions posed here -- What is nonviolence? Does it work? -- are the primary concerns of the readings that follow, which are intended to represent some of the most considered attempts to explain what nonviolence is and to show some of the ways it might be implemented.

The author, an evangelical minister and former ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and other prominent leaders of the religious right, describes his struggle to accept himself as a gay Christian. This book is especially notable for its recommendation of the use of classic nonviolence tactics in the gay struggle.

Weeks theory of conflict partnership resolution is based on his experience of growing up in the south where he noted that one of the causes of conflict was rooted in a widespread belief that ideas different from the dominant attitudes were wrong or unpatriotic. They were failing to learn from one another, to deal with their differences and conflicts and partners rather than as adversaries in search of victory over another group.

Thomas Merton's principal writings on non-violence, war and racism, written between 1961 and 1968. Excellent introduction and contextual remarks by the editor. Even his cold war articles still ring true - as I read "The Shelter Ethic," about the possibility of neighbors fending each other off with machine guns at the entrances to their bomb shelters, I was brought to the present time with thoughts of some of the recommendations I have been reading about Y2K preparations.

Interviews with the leading spiritual social activists of our century, including Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ram Dass, Joan Baez, Gary Snyder, Joanna Macy, Cesar Chavez, David Steindl-Rast, A. T. Ariyaratne, Diane Nash, and Mubarak Awad.

Intellectual, historical and scriptural basis for creative nonviolence and transformation.

A peace activist, teacher, and community leader uses incidents from our everyday lives to show us how to transform our lives. This is also available for purchase from Amazon.com as a cassette tape.

Rabbi Stahl is on the board of spiritual directors for the peaceCENTER. A lively and provocative book about what it means to be a Jew in America. His essay on the death penalty from the book is online at the peaceCENTER.

Integrates contemplation with action. Vital, down-to-earth spirituality for persons who live busy, active lives.

Importance of nonviolence at the turn of the millennium. Challenging, but easy to comprehend.

Introduction to the man he was before he became enshrined in doctrine, dogma and ritual, a man deeply involved with the real problems of his time -- which challenges us to be as involved in the real problems of our times.

Articulates a creative, more human style of living and points the way for Christians to make their lives "models of simplicity" through prayer, solitude, and all the Christian disciplines.

A multifaith dialogue on global responsibility.

Teachings of active trust, not passivity; finding the balance between action and contemplation; commitment in the world and the ability to let go in God.

A scholarly and in-depth look at nonviolence, passive resistance and pacifism.

A collection of essays by a former syndicated Washington Post columnist with a nonviolent stance. In 1982 McCarthy founded the Center for Teaching Peace, an organization that supports courses on nonviolence. Mr. McCarthy has agreed to serve on the peaceCENTER's Board of Directors and spoke in early November, 1998 at the University of the Incarnate Word's Distinguished Speaker's series.

A fascinating self-portrait of one of the greatest souls of this century.

About the rise of violence and social disintegration in our culture, searching out its sources and proposing a way of salvation.

The autobiography of a passionate activist for justice, who organized the 1993 urban gang leaders' summit in Kansas City.

A groundbreaking primer of how "have-nots" can organize to achieve political power.

Educating for Peace and Justice: Global Dimensions
by James McGinnis and Kathleen McGinnis
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Parenting for Peace and Justice: Ten Years Later
by Kathleen McGinnis, James B. McGinnis, James McGinnis (Contributor)
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A Call to Peace: 52 Reflections on the Family Pledge of Nonviolence
by James McGinnis
Recommended by: Ann Helmke     Order this book from Amazon

Each meditation is followed by appropriate selections of songs, books and videos. Excellent study and discussion as well.